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“I know I deserve better, but I don’t feel like I can wait much longer for Prince Charming to come along. I lived my entire life alone. Don’t get me wrong. I love you, Megan, but I want a real family, and when I think of holding a baby of my own, I just think…I don’t know…like I would finally feel complete.”
Megan’s face is all love and sympathy, but then something shifts, like she’s trying to figure out what to say next.
“You know, Kate, you don’t need a man to start a family. If you want a baby, you could just have one by yourself.”
“Like at a fertility clinic with a sperm donor? On my salary? Yeah right. As if I could ever afford something like that.”
“That isn’t the only way these days. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Don’t be mad that I haven’t been totally honest with you,” Megan says. She scans the tables around us, making sure no one can overhear our conversation. I can’t imagine what she’s about to tell me. “This baby, it isn’t Nathan’s.”
I look at her in total shock. I wasn’t expecting that. “You cheated on Nathan?”
She laughs. “No, I got pregnant before I met him. I was exactly where you are now right before he and I hooked up. Dating assholes left and right, my biological clock ticking louder and louder. I decided to make a go of it on my own because I didn’t think there were any good guys left out there.”
I’m stunned. My mouth hangs open and I realize I’m staring at her stupidly. There’s just one question ping-ponging around my head. “How?”
“A friend of mine told me about this place called the Baby-Makers club. It’s pretty exclusive. Invite only. They screen all the guys, make sure they’re STD-free and have mega strong sperm so you’re almost guaranteed to get pregnant—and better yet, they’re all hot and there are no test tubes or turkey basters involved.”
“Then how do they, er, do it?” I ask.
She winks at me. “The old fashioned way, of course.”
My jaw drops. “You had to have sex with some strange guy?”
Her smile fills her face, making her look even more radiant than before. “Yep, and it was kind of amazing. I would never tell Nathan that, of course. He knows this baby was conceived before he and I met. I had to be honest with him about that. But as far as he’s concerned, the only thing I know about this baby’s father is a serial number on a vile of frozen sperm. He doesn’t need to know the specifics. The dirty, sexy specifics.”
I’m blushing. I can’t believe what my best friend is telling me. She had sex with a total stranger, coordinated by some kinky baby-making club? I don’t think I could do that. (I didn’t think she could do that.) But I want what she has. To be radiant and glowing and to grow a precious life inside of me. And somewhere deep inside me, the idea of sleeping with an anonymous man is intriguing.
“I’m sure it costs a fortune.” Nothing about having a baby is cheap, and I can’t imagine a baby-making club being any less expensive than any other method of reproducing that isn’t the old fashioned way.
“The owner of the club is Mosaic, and she’s a wonderful and kind woman. If I can afford it with my shopping addiction, you definitely can. You’re far more responsible with money than I am.”
She’s right about that. For someone who works in the finance department, she’s terrible with money. She’s lucky Nathan has an amazing job and can afford her expensive tastes. I, on the other hand, grew up dirt-poor and like to save. Just in case. Growing up, I never knew where my next meal was coming from, so whenever I got any extra money, I would stash it away for emergencies. It was a lonely and stressful way to live, but the habit stuck.
“Just call her and talk to her,” Megan says. “I’m sure she’d be willing to work something out. You don’t have anything to lose.”
Megan slides me a business card. The card is simple. Discrete. All it says is ‘Mosaic’ on the front with an address and phone number. I take it and put it in my purse and don’t think much about it afterward.
When I get home from work, I kick off my shoes and throw on a pair of yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt and flop down on the couch. Some wine and a good book is what I need right now. I pick up the cozy mystery book I’ve been slogging through for the last few weeks. It doesn’t hold my attention, and I find my mind wandering back to my conversation with Megan earlier in the day.
